Seban’s chuckle broke the tension that rose with those words. “It’s true that Bekka rarely sleeps, but she’s learned silence from an early age—her mother is a midwife and Bekka was warned that any baby she woke was hers to get back to bed.”

Some of the reluctant women chuckled.

“However, some here should be sleeping, I think,” Fiona said with a glance toward Taria’s charges. “I know some may prefer soft beds to hard rock, and their own quarters to a stranger’s.”

She closed her eyes, wishing the disgruntled would either relent or leave. After a while, the sounds of movement died away. Fiona felt the warmth of some more bodies near her and the sounds of older sleepers and drifted off, content to see the morning.

“Good morning Talenth.” Aryar’s small piping voice, kept hushed, was the first thing that woke Fiona that morning.

“Good morning Talenth,” Rhemy added in a whisper a moment later. “I hope you’re feeling better.”

Fiona opened an eye, only to see Seban wink at her and close his eyes again suggestively. Suppressing a smile, she followed suit.

One by one, the young weyr girls and boys filed past the queen dragon and wished her a good morning and good health.

“I’ve never heard the like before,” Seban murmured as Taria added her voice, in heartfelt tones, to the others.

“I know you’re pretending,” Xhinna said right beside Fiona. “You snore when you’re really sleeping.”

“I do not!” Fiona replied, eyes snapping open. Xhinna smiled at her, leaned forward, and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Of course not, Weyrwoman,” she agreed cheerfully. “Did you sleep well?”

Fiona stretched, careful not to hit Xhinna or Seban, and considered the question. “Well enough, thank you.”

“We’re heading back to the dorms to get them washed and dressed—there are far too many for your rooms,” Xhinna explained. “Shall we bring your breakfast here?” When Fiona made to protest, Xhinna told her, “You know they’d be ecstatic to serve you. You can’t imagine how they’d feel: ‘I served the Weyrwoman!’”

Fiona smiled but shook her head. “Perhaps another day.”

Xhinna accepted this with a phlegmatic shrug. “It’s probably just as well—they’d spill all over you.”

“Come on, Xhinna,” Taria called from the entrance. She nodded to Fiona and gave the Weyrwoman a tentative smile. “Thank you, Weyrwoman.”

“My pleasure.”

As they departed, Fiona took her Weyrwoman’s privilege and stole into her bathroom before Seban. She was out again in a moment, offering him its use before taking a more relaxed bath and getting dressed for the day.